1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat in which a seat cushion of the vehicle seat is adapted to be tipped up relative to a seat back of the vehicle seat (hereinafter referred to as “tip-up seat”) and, more particularly, to a vehicle seat in which a seat cushion of the vehicle seat has leg means pivotally supported to a lower portion thereof and the leg means is adapted to be operatively folded and laid on a bottom surface of the seat cushion, synchronously with tipping-up of the seat cushion relative to a seat back of the vehicle seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a vehicle seat, there has been proposed a vehicle seat in which a seat cushion of the vehicle seat can be tipped up relative to a seat back of the vehicle seat in order that any space can be obtained around the vehicle seat. U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,724 B1 assigned to the assignee of the present invention discloses this type of vehicle seat. The conventional vehicle seat includes a seat back supported to a floor of a vehicle body, and a seat cushion pivotally supported to the seat back. The seat cushion has a leg member pivotally supported to a lower portion thereof. The leg member is releasably engaged with a locking device mounted on the floor of the vehicle body, whereby the vehicle seat is stably seated on the floor of the vehicle body.
When the seat cushion is tipped up relative to the seat back, the leg member is adapted to be disengaged from the locking device. The leg member is then folded so as to be laid on a bottom surface of the seat cushion by a person's hand. However, the folding of the leg member relative to the bottom surface of the seat cushion by the person's hand is considerably troublesome. Therefore, it is desirable in order to avoid the troublesome operation that synchronously with the tipping-up of the seat cushion relative to the seat back, the leg member can be folded and then laid on the bottom surface of the seat cushion.